Grace Chapel Bible Ministries

worship Call 1184 The fires of persecution - 2024/11/19

Luke has just set up his account of the church’s witness beyond Jerusalem with two men who are (at this point) opposites: Saul, a zealous enemy of the church (Acts 7:58), and Stephen, the Christian who has just laid down his life as a witness to Jesus (7:60). In very different ways both men motivate the church’s growth, as God continues to build His Church in spite of persecution. The story of Saul and the events following Stephen’s death act as a backdrop for the Church’s efforts and Saul’s later, changed life (ch. 9).

Duration:: 32m
Broadcast on:: 19 Nov 2024
Audio Format:: other

[MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] Welcome to "Worship Call" with Bible teacher Buzz Lawbet. Buzz is the pastor of Grace Chapel Bible Ministries located in Duncan, South Carolina. This ministry is dedicated to the verse by verse teaching of God's word and discipleship programs aimed at strengthening the faith of God's people. Now here's today's message. For more than news, George Whitten this morning, Pastor Grace, please, John 117. For the law was given by Moses, but Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ. Having spent over 20 years living in Israel's Negev Desert, I come to appreciate the importance of salt in maintaining proper hydration. What in the world does salt have to do with Grace and Truth, you ask? Well, I'll tell you. Salt, as you might recall from chemistry classes, is a combination of sodium and chlorine. Sodium is a harmless act of element, while chlorine is a toxic gas responsible for bleach. Unpleasant odor, yet these two elements combine, when they are combined, they form salt, a substance widely used to preserve food and enhance its flavor. In the same way, if we present the truth of the gospel without Grace, it often produces a very offensive and sometimes poisonous effect on those whom we share it. However, if we combine the two, we'll be able to preserve and bring out the delicious flavor of our faith. Grace and Truth came by Yeshua, Hamashuaq, Jesus Christ, the scripture says, "How much more should we approach the world around us with these two important components?" Friends, are you finding the challenge to share the gospel effectively? Maybe you need more Grace, or perhaps more truth. Let's give our efforts to the Lord and ask Him to spice it up the way He likes. It's harvest time. If we share the gospel full of Grace and Truth, we will surely reap a hundredfold. Your family of the Lord much of copper love, George, but Revka, Obadiah, and Lina. And this is another fine day in the Lord. Shall I say, this is the, what is this? This is the third day of the week in God's created order. In the 19th day, the 11th month, 2,000, 24th year old Lord, and this is another fine day in the Lord. As we come to the Lord in His Word, let's pray. Father in Heaven, thank You for this opportunity of fellowshiping in Your Word. And we pray, Heavenly Father, that God will open our hearts to the truth of Scripture. Be with the speaker and be with the listeners for a proper discernment. We pray these things in Christ's name, Amen. So Stephen has gotten the gander up of the religious leaders here. And so here he goes. We come to Acts 754. Oh man, okay, give me just a moment to get this set up. I'm still not used to the new lives yet. Alright, there we go, and let's get rid of that. Alright, I think we're good. Alright, now when they heard this, they were cut to the quick. Here is Stephen, here is Stephen, he gives them what for. And so they got their gander up, folks. Now when they heard this, they cut to the quick and began gnashing their teeth at him. But being full of Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into the Heaven. Okay, when one is filled with the Holy Spirit, even in the face of antagonism, even in the face of hatred of the world and everything else, the one who is full of the Holy Spirit is in perfect control. He's not wigging out, he's not reactive to what's going on around him in the world, the hostilities or the insults or anything else. But he's a perfect control under that billing ministry. And so he's going, but as we go through trials, as we go through things, there are times when we don't handle things. So, let's just say perfectly, because really when we are in perfect control, it's not our control, it's the Spirit's control. So let's just say when we're in the Spirit's control. And as we are in the Spirit's control, and as we're going through this hostility toward us, remember that it's not toward us, but it's toward God's Word. If it is, that the world is attacking us in the name of Christ. So we continue to keep our situational awareness, we continue to make sure that we remain in the fellowship, because as being under the billing ministry of God the Holy Spirit, it is he that is guiding, it is he who is putting the words in our mouth, it is he that leads us into making a good testimony. Before the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently in the heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus sitting at the standing. An important word here, standing, went over that yesterday at the right handed God, Jesus providing the second witness here. Let's go ahead and get that here, there we go. And he said, "Behold, I see the heavens open up, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God." But they cried out with a loud voice and covered their ears and rushed at him with one impulse. When they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him, and the witnesses laid aside their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul. This Saul we find out will be the one he is Saul of Tarsus from the city of Tarsus. He is a Benjamin in that he is from the tribe of Benjamin. He is also a Roman citizen as we will find out later on, but he is an up and aspiring Pharisee. And at this point, we note that he is a young man. So, let's just go on here. Stephen becomes the first, let's go back to Stephen for a moment, he becomes the first recorded martyr in the Church of Age. And that's the first one in the book of, in the box of Book of Martyrs, is the first one that John Fox notes in his commentary. But he will not be the last. The killing of Jesus for the Pharisees was the first thing. And I think that I would assume that when the Pharisees killed Jesus, that they figured that their troubles would be over. And they would get him out of the way, and they would continue on as business as usual, that that problem was out of the way. But of course, they didn't part of the debt, he rose again. And now the flames of the gospel is going out, but also the flames of persecution is interesting. As we study this, look at this, that there are two things come up at the same time. The gospel and the persecution. The gospel is the power of Christ for salvation. And it would stand to reason. You see, as I've often noted, that when there is a battle between two forces, one side does not gain ground without the other side losing ground. It is Satan who is the ruler of this dark world, and he wants the monopoly of this world. It's nothing like a live and let live that Satan wants it all. And one person changing his allegiance from the dark to the light is a threat, is a loss. And everyone, for every believer, that here's the gospel in response to it, he moves from Satan's dark regime over into the light. And so, in that case, Satan loses some. Every time that there is a believer that advances to spiritual maturity and becomes, where his witness becomes strengthened. Even for that Christian to be so strong that he would give his life for Christ becomes the witness. And so, here it is that Satan is going to do everything that he can to destroy, especially at the beginning of the church age. This is going to be the first persecution error of the church. And now they went about, after they put Jesus to death, now they put Stephen to death, another innocent man, now a rampage had just begun. And it would be also notable that it was the church, the church itself, or the so-called, not the church, but the religious establishment. The church is going to get involved too, the assembly. And a church which is no church, like the synagogue that is no synagogue, that it is going to be a religion, a religious establishment that's going to put to death. Not only men, but men, women, and children before it's all over, all in the name of Christ. And again, Stephen's death marked the beginning of the church's first great persecution, headed up by this crusader, Saul of Tarsus. Saul is here, noted as a young man. Young men, if you remember that when we were young, Tim, and Mikey, you remember when we were young men, how ambitious we were to go out and take on the world, and young and ambitious and anxious to make an impression. And easy for the Pharisee, in this case it's easy for the Pharisees to manipulate a young man and motivate him, and give him some success. I remember for me just having some form of success was a great thing. So Saul found his niche in persecuting these followers of the way. And incidentally, the prayer that Stephen had to forgive them, to forgive his persecutors, it may be very well that Paul and Paul may recognize this as he was one of the recipients of the answered prayer that he would be forgiven. But until that time, Saul will be seeking to make a name for himself in the eyes of the religious establishment. In the eyes of others, he was cruel, mean, and they dread it, I could say, very well, very dreaded. But to Saul he was just doing his job, to Saul was doing good, he was written, the name of Jesus was heretical. He was, again, another point about Paul is that he grew up under the instruction of D'Amelio. And D'Amelio was one of the most prestigious men probably on the Sanhedrin, a teacher. And Paul grew up under that teacher, and what great ambition Paul may have to impress his teacher. And to one day be a member of the Sanhedrin, he went away to honor his teacher, and someone he really respects. And those people that respect and our teachers, we want to show them respect by our success. Our success is a testimony to their teaching. And again, we're dealing with Saul Tarsus ambition here, Saul's ambition. Another thing I should say is don't get confused, this is not King Saul. This is the Pharisee Saul. So young Saul would stick it to the followers of the way. Those who proclaim Jesus as God, and those who were leaving Judaism to follow this new faith Christianity, the followers of the way, Acts 8 1 through 3. Saul was an hearty agreement with putting him to death. He remembered that a previous verse that they were laying their coats before the feet of Saul as he was overlooking the death of Stephen. And he wasn't full agreement. Not only was he in full agreement, but he was also participant. No, I don't think he was throwing stones, but he participated in the fact that he would go on to murder Christians. And on that day a great persecution began, let's see what the word persecution, persecute, diaglamas. Okay, and on that day a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem. And they were scattered throughout the regions. Yeah, regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. The leadership stayed in Jerusalem. It was where Christianity has had its roots strangely enough. The apostles remained in Jerusalem the very center of persecution. And they, as well as their deacons, will be murdered. Looking up in different sources, book of martyrs and others. All the said names are deacons except for Nicholas. I didn't find nothing on Nicholas, but each one was murdered for the faith. James, the brother of Jesus, he would remain there. He would become a head man, like the head of the church in Jerusalem. And it would be he who would write the letter of James. Or if you know that the book is actually called Yakov or Jacob. But nonetheless, James would write this letter to his brother and to the twelve tribes throughout. Those who were spread out through these regions. James would write to them, "James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes who was dispersed abroad greetings." This is my brother Mike's verse here. Consider it all joy, my brother, when you encounter various trials. Knowing that the test of your faith produces endurance. And let that endurance have its perfect result so that you may be perfectly complete, lacking in nothing. And he goes on. But this letter was a letter of encouragement to the churches through his brother and throughout the church. That they to hang on. And this letter, the book of James is like the proverbs of the Old Testament. But it was, like I said, it was also a type of encouragement to the people out there. So Stephen was a deacon of the church. There would be those other deacons that would suffer the same fate. Philip, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas. And they were all put to death. Tradition has it that Prochorus had become a bishop himself as Antioch. And he was murdered. So simply killing Christians was not enough. And it became bad and without being too graphic that they would, that even made interwoven the killing into a certain religion where the priests of these pagan religions would examine the death and how one would die and how the blood flow was. And it would be just gruesome. And so it was quite the, quite sick stuff actually. Killing of Christians became a sport and the people fled from Jerusalem. And this would get them out of the way of the judgment. It would be judgment coming and it would be terrible judgment. So as bad as it was for the Christians and as they were dying for the faith, in 8070, somewhere around, this would, this would be somewhere around 37, 38 years later, that when Jerusalem fell, it came under a siege. So Jerusalem would be very much disciplined by God, judged by God. And it was, it was horrific. So as bad as it was for the Christian, the judgment of God was so much more against it. Folks, as bad, they were starving that they were eating their own babies. And that it was just horrendous of what happened to Jerusalem. But the Christians were taken out of the way. And in this sense, it, and this was, you know, considered all joy, my brethren. And it was also God worked all things out for good for those who love Him and not just their good, but their mind good. Because as bad as it was, this was also to fulfill what Jesus said to His disciples in Acts 1-8. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be my witnesses, both in Jerusalem and in all of Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth. And here we see that Christianity's begin to spread out. This word for witnesses is "Martus." And "Martus" means to a, is where we get the word witness from, martyr from. And it's to witness a person who witnesses, witness the one who testifies. And it was even in the death of believers that one would give His life for the truth. So Saul not only approved of killing Christians, but wholeheartedly practiced in killing them. And it was a trend throughout church history that where there is the greatest persecution, there's also the greatest of church growth. You know, if you study just a little bit of it, it does seem like persecution and church growth go hand in hand. And I don't know which comes first, in a sense, because when the church is doing what is to do, and when we as Christians are going out and we are spreading the gospel and we are living Christ's life, if we're living Christ's life, if we're, and then we must be ready to also die Christ's life. And with the influence of Christian, with the Christian influence and the growth of Christianity, the world become more hostile. So there is the increased persecution. And other times there's the increase of persecution and Christians wake up. So it seems to go hand in hand. We have in our day we see so much written about the falling away from the faith within our country where less as people are coming going to church now and less and less people believe in God. And so we see the influence of the church faltering going down. While we see in other countries, such as China, Russia, North Korea, Iran, there is a boom of Christianity in Muslim countries, there is a boom of Christian growth. And these are the most persecuted areas. So it would seem that it will become the identification mark of the church to live Christ's life and to die Christ's life. Matthew 1624. Then Jesus said to disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me for whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life from my sake will find it." And again, there are many places in this world that it's a badge of honor to suffer for Christ. Saul's conversion from the persecutor of Christians to becoming the greatest Christian hero of the faith. Saul would become Paul, or he would be the, again, the greatest Christian in the church age. And he wrote the most, he seemed to work the most, he seemed to suffer the most, but alter Christ. And that conversion is a testimony within itself, because how can one being so zealous for the law turn and some zealous and killing Christians? All of a sudden one day become a faithful believer in Christ. Therefore, those who have been scattered went about preaching the word, and it's not just about the suffering. It leads though, you are going to lead though, and it means to preach, it means to proclaim. And this is so important, it has to be connected with our suffering, our works, the things that we do must have the preaching in a woven in them. The gospel message to die without proclaiming the message is just a life lived in vain. In this case, we are even in our personal suffering when people see us going through things. We're sanctifying the Lord God in our hearts, and we're told to be ready to give an answer for the hope that's found in us. So persecuting troubles and trials never was enough to just spread the gospel. The gospel is a spoken message, and again the gospel is the power of God, the power of salvation, and it must be communicated. And so even on a personal level, when one's hope in the Lord and others see that steadfast trust in the Lord, and it causes them to ask for the hope that's found in us. So here we find that Peter, and eight-five says Philip went down to the city of Samaria and began proclaiming Christ to them. And normally this is hostile territory folks, hostile territory, the Samaritans and the Jews were not on friendly terms. That is until Christ, and we remember back in John 439 to 41 that, and you brought that setting it up, the woman at the well, she was a Samarian. And it was that Samarian with that woman who testified about the man she had met at the well. And they received Jesus, this Jewish carpenter, the one from Nazarene, they accepted him, and they begged for him to stay. John 439 41 from that city, many of the Samaritans began, but up here. From that city, many of the Samaritans believed in him because of the word of the woman who testified. He told me all these things that I have done. So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they were asking him to stay with them, and he stayed there for two days. Many more believed because of his word, and they were saying to the woman, it is no longer because of what you said that we believe for we have heard for ourselves, and know that this one is indeed the Savior of the world. So Philip goes to evangelism, it's also a proclamation that those that believed, and there would probably still be those that, I'm sure there were, those that still were impacted by Jesus' visit, and his stay for those couple days. So as we finish out this morning by examining these passages, Christians are encouraged to evaluate their commitment to discipleship. Regardless of the climate, whether in good times or in bad, we should have the commitment to discipleship, to evangelism. The importance of maintaining accountability within the body of Christ, and to call to share their faith with others. Understanding that these actions can lead to a personal growth and community transformation. We want a better world, we want a better community, and then ours is to spread the gospel. Close that prayer, Father, and Heaven, thank you for this opportunity of fellowship in your words. Thank you for the opportunity of teaching it, thank you for the opportunity, the ears to hear, and the eyes to see, and the amount to spread that gospel. Thank you, Heavenly Father, for all you many blessings, and these things we pray in Christ name, amen. Alright, now to find David and Lord, keep your armor on, we have our class night, Tuesday night, Bible class, hope you're there with us. We will be streaming that one, so until then, stay motivated, Lord, keep your armor on, and keep fighting a good fight of faith. Lord Wellensburg, God bless you, and we'll be back here in the A.M. Thank you for joining us. You can hear this message again, as well as previous lessons, and get notes by visiting us online at www.gchappell.org. [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO]